Thursday, January 04, 2007

Today, we pay salute to one of the most popular and beloved members of the Musical Family, Larry Hooper!

Born in Independence, Missouri on July 22, 1917....Hoopie first joined Lawrence Welk's orchestra in 1948 originally as a pianist but once the Maestro heard Larry's deep rich bass voice singing a few bars, he became a featured vocalist with popular songs such as "Oh Happy Day", "This Old House" and "Minnie The Mermaid".

Hoopie was also a dedicated family man, he and his wife Beverly had three daughters, Lisa, Melinda and Laurie, and was an avid collector of model railroads.

Plagued with ill health most of his life, Larry was off the show from 1969 to 1973 after a heart attack followed by complications that twice nearly took his life. He soon recovered well enough to return for the opening show of the 1973-74 season which drew an emotional and rousing standing ovation from the studio audience.

Once again, ill health forced him off the show again in 1980 and sadly never to return....and passed on three years later.

But that Hoopie smile and great humor has left an lasting and warm impression for Welk fans of all ages, and nobody can sing real low better than him!

4 comments:

Patti Berg
said...

Just saw Larry Hooper singing "Oh Happy Day" on a show I believe was from 1961. Pat Boone was even on this show singing "Moody River." Ah, what memories!

I always loved Pat Boone... but seeing Larry Hooper brought back special memories. One of my favorite memories from way back when was Larry Hooper singing "This Old House." Wow! I just loved that--and I remember my Dad loving it, too.

My husband and mom are watching the show with me and all I could think was--I wish we could return to a time when life was so much simpler. Boy, those were the days!

Larry was a special favorite ofmine. a good pianist as well. Iespecially remember an uptempovocal of his on Old Man River, sung with just the rhythm section. He didn't record this commercially, just did it on the show. Does anyone have this versionon audio or video? Peter Nash-- danceork@hotmail.com

From Hollywood, The Lawrence Welk Network presents....

ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY JB FUNKY HIMSELF

About Me

The blogmeister is also the webmaster behind the very successful Welk Musical Family.com. I have been a fan of Lawrence Welk since I was a youngster (not too long ago!) and have watched (and taped) his show every Saturday night on my local PBS station, WGTE and sometimes WBGU. My hometown and current residence is Toledo, Ohio and in recent years, I have attended many of their live concerts and had the chance to meet many of the wunnerful music makers as well.